Friday, November 25, 2016

Erdogan warns Turkey could open gates for migrants if pushed by EU

President Tayyip Erdogan warned on Friday that Turkey could open its gates for migrants to Europe if pushed by the European Union, a day after European lawmakers voted for a temporary halt to EU membership talks with Ankara.

Turkish President Tayyip Erdogan speaks during a signing ceremony with Belarussian President Alexander Lukashenko in Minsk, Belarus, November 11, 2016. REUTERS/Vasily Fedosenko

"If you go any further, these border gates will be opened. Neither me nor my people will be affected by these dry threats. It wouldn't matter if all of you approved the (European parliament) vote," he told a congress on womens' justice in Istanbul, in comments broadcast live.


Erdogan also said a controversial ruling party proposal that could allow men accused of sexual abuse to avoid sentence was not prepared carefully, and believed that the issue would be brought back to parliament with a wider consensus.

The proposal would have allowed sentencing to be indefinitely postponed in cases of sexual abuse committed "without force, threat or deception" before Nov. 16, 2016, if the perpetrator married the victim.


(Reporting by Daren Butler; Writing by Nick Tattersall; Editing by Humeyra Pamuk)

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